Darlington V Brackley

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al_quaker
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Re: Darlington V Brackley

Post by al_quaker » Sat Feb 23, 2019 1:11 pm

en passant wrote:
al_quaker wrote:
But the most worrying thing was the crowd and the general apathy which seems to have swept over the entire club. When was the last time we had a 3 figure crowd in Darlington for a league match? I fear we are watching the slow decline of Darlington Football Club unfolding before our eyes. It's a vicious circle of dwindling crowds leading to budget cuts leading to a worse squad leading to less entertainment leading to dwindling crowds etc. The whole club is in desperate need of a spark to reverse this decline, but for the life of me I can't see where that is coming from.
There are certainly things about the way this season has gone so far that I'm sure most of us would have wished to have turned out differently but the narrative you have painted seems to rely heavily on the turnout on Wednesday night being significant in showing we are on a downward spiral. It was certainly a very disappointing crowd, but only receives notable attention because it fell below 1,000. We have had other low crowds this season but these have often been followed by better crowds, probably due to the ebb and flow of personal finances, and the quality and fan base of the opposition. I'm not sure at this stage that it is right to draw the apocalyptic conclusions that you have reached on one bad result and one poor crowd. It would be no different to assuming that we were on the up because we had one crowd over 2,000 a few weeks ago. Yes it was another bad result, and yes the goals aren't flowing at the moment but I don't extrapolate from this that it is the end of our time in the NLN nor the end of DFC, and I think there are still enough likeminded supporters who will not willingly let that happen.
Well attendances on a whole are somewhat down this season, which isn't surprising after the second season in a row of - let's be honest - mostly crap. But you are right that it is the sub 1000 crowd for a league match in Darlington which is particularly concerning. It may be a one off, but it may point towards growing apathy towards the club which I believe is there. I think some people are beginning to get fed up of the product that DFC is serving up (and I include myself in this) - home games on the whole are spectacularly unentertaining, BM is an awful place to go, and we're not even winning many to cover up for that. Most things point towards it being worse next season, so I struggle to see how crowds will not continue to fall. This would then contribute to the vicious circle I alluded to. We have to live within our means, so if crowds continue to fall it will be very tough for us to reverse that trend.

I sincerely hope I'm wrong, that I'm simply extrapolating my growing jadedness to others or that the club somehow finds that positive spark that can generate some interest. But, other than blind faith, I currently struggle to see how next season will be any better.

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divas
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Re: Darlington V Brackley

Post by divas » Sat Feb 23, 2019 4:56 pm

We might as well pack up then hey

quakersfan
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Re: Darlington V Brackley

Post by quakersfan » Sat Feb 23, 2019 5:55 pm

divas wrote:We might as well pack up then hey
I don’t think people are saying that, but fans need to see a plan on how we proceed whether that’s DJ or DFCSG, or if we are planning 2-3 seasons at this level then come out and say it and fans can then decide whether they support it or not. Hopefully there’s still ambition within the club:

al_quaker
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Re: Darlington V Brackley

Post by al_quaker » Sat Feb 23, 2019 5:56 pm

divas wrote:We might as well pack up then hey
Sounds a bit extreme

super_les_mcjannet
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Re: Darlington V Brackley

Post by super_les_mcjannet » Sat Feb 23, 2019 6:09 pm

quakersfan wrote:
divas wrote:We might as well pack up then hey
I don’t think people are saying that, but fans need to see a plan on how we proceed whether that’s DJ or DFCSG, or if we are planning 2-3 seasons at this level then come out and say it and fans can then decide whether they support it or not. Hopefully there’s still ambition within the club:
When you say planning for 2/3 seasons at this level what do you mean?

We are spending every penny we have, so not sure what the board currently can do in terms of showing any further ambition?

The plan forward is all wrapped up in the sporting village, what do you want the board to do right now accept what is currently offered (believe we are looking for more certainty for the Football Club) or forget it and stay at Blackwell.

Again however on the back of my point above I appreciate the no current plan leaves a void in our way forward, but you either understand that or pick another option - which way forward are you picking?

HarryCharltonsCat
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Re: Darlington V Brackley

Post by HarryCharltonsCat » Sat Feb 23, 2019 9:00 pm

quakersfan wrote:
divas wrote:We might as well pack up then hey
I don’t think people are saying that, but fans need to see a plan on how we proceed whether that’s DJ or DFCSG, or if we are planning 2-3 seasons at this level then come out and say it and fans can then decide whether they support it or not. Hopefully there’s still ambition within the club:
What do you want them to say? We are aiming for promotion next season? We've found a pot of money we'd forgotten we'd put away at the back of a cupboard for emergencies, so we will have a top five budget next season. Any plan will be around how we maintain a club at any level. Anybody expecting a promotion push any time soon might as well resign themselves to Saturday afternoons with Sky.

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